You're probably right. These data collection practices probably started in the pre-ACA era, when insurers could get away with more. Also, maybe they want to know what they're up against if an insured party threatens them with legal action.

Why is a healthcare insurance provider collecting income information on the people they insure? That's none of their business. The answer is probably 'just because they can,' but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

KentuckyFC writes: Revolutions in science often come from the study of seemingly unresolvable paradoxes. So an interesting exercise is to list the paradoxes associated with current ideas in science. One cosmologist has done just that by exploring the paradoxes associated with well-established ideas and observations about the structure and origin of the universe. Perhaps the most dramatic of these paradoxes comes from the idea that the universe must be expanding. What’s curious about this expansion is that space, and the vacuum associated with it, must somehow be created in this process. And yet nobody knows how this can occur. What’s more, there is an energy associated with any given volume of the universe. If that volume increases, the inescapable conclusion is that the energy must increase as well. So much for conservation of energy. And even the amount of energy associated with the vacuum is a puzzle with different calculations contradicting each other by 120 orders of magnitude. Clearly, anybody who can resolve these problems has a bright future in science but may also end up tearing modern cosmology apart.

That's not the way do to it. The camera should be recording for the whole shift, but if the officer doesn't unholster a weapon, that day's footage gets erased at the end of the shift. If a weapon is drawn, footage around that event would be saved. Less privacy worries for the officers, and more incentive for them to resolve situations without firing.

These newer implants could still cause tissue damage over time at a slower rate, but rats don't live more than 2-3 years. Sounds like they need to test this in a species with a longer lifespan before using human subjects.

I feel your pain. I wear progressives, and for my first pair, the optimal focal area was ridiculously small just as you describe. A couple of years ago I went to a new optometrist and explained that I wanted glasses that had a more natural feel for close viewing. That 'spot' effect isn't there, and I love them.

My AA has offered to help process my emails, but I'd much rather do it myself, since I learn more and remember more that way. Why I would ever want pre-processed mail is beyond me. Where is the demand for this product? I just don't see it.

ashleywiseman writes: After months of speculation and rumors about Microsoft and Nokia, and after Nokia Lumia cutout from markets, Microsoft announced it that Microsoft has bought Nokia Lumia devices, so from now on it's Microsoft Lumia.Link to Original Source

An anonymous reader writes: The fact that access to scientific journals is expensive and that universities in developing countries can't afford them has been one of the key points for open access journals. Nature has started now a "world library of science" to offer content to developing countries (and everyone else) for free, but without a permissive license. Unesco also allowed to add its logo to the front page.Link to Original Source